The Clark County Council is expected to review proposals for a resource lands study before the end of the month. The council approved going out to bid on the study in late January. With an estimated budget of $300,000, the study will look at available resource lands as part of the county’s comprehensive growth plan update, due to the state by Dec. 31.
That leaves a short window for the bid and selection process, the study to be completed and then reviewed by staff and the council. At the council’s Jan. 28 meeting, Councilor Matt Little asked if the study could be completed in time.
The growth plan update was initially due June 30, but the Legislature extended the deadline by six months, Oliver Orjiako, director of the county’s community planning department, told the council.
“Time is of the essence,” Orjiako said. “Will this analysis be completed in time? I am hopeful.”
Orjiako said he would like to see the study completed by June so the council can review the information before deciding on proposed land use alternatives from the cities.
Ridgefield attorney David McDonald, who has represented Friends of Clark County in its legal battles with the county over land use and zoning, doubts a thorough study can be completed between the time the contract is awarded and when it’s expected to be reviewed by the council.
“There is simply not the time to adequately do a comprehensive resource lands evaluation in two months given the history of how we have planned for growth in this county,” McDonald said, adding that previous resource studies have taken years to complete.
He said the previous studies looked at a single type of resource lands (agricultural, forest or mining lands), not all resource lands — and still took that long to produce something usable.
Orjiako said the resource studies are not easy to complete. He said the initial agricultural lands designation took two years to complete and had a task force available to help. A mineral lands study begun in 2011 took three years, he said.
Under the state’s Growth Management Act, at least every 10 years the county must review and update its 20-year growth plan, which includes forecasts for population, housing and jobs growth. The council set Clark County’s 2045 population forecast at 718,185.
Using that forecast, the county and cities then consider opening additional land to development to meet housing and jobs growth targets.
McDonald said rezoning resource lands for other uses must follow a specific process defined by state statute. In the past, he said the county has “de-designated” resource lands without going through the proper process during comprehensive plan updates, and those lands ended up being annexed into Ridgefield.
“We do not want that process to happen again,” McDonald said. “Friends of Clark County has continually believed that the county needs to protect and preserve its agricultural resource lands to an extent far beyond what they have always done.”
Councilor Glen Yung said cities have been given the latitude to plan for their futures and — although the council may disagree — those plans should be honored.
“We don’t know what the outcome of the resource land study will be,” Yung said. “It may not justify the de-designations that the cities are asking for.”
